avatar tales of the past
by Adek
Summary: the tale of the thirty fifth avatar. witness the birth of the world we have come to know, a love between an earthbender girl and a very different airbender. can they escape an army of icebenders with the help of their friends or die trying for peace?
1. Chapter 1

Note before you read

This is indeed the world of our favorite airbender, about the generation of the thirty fifth Avatar. You'll find many things different that the present world of the avatar. The islands of the Fire nation is broken into many feudal kingdoms, the firebenders are more like samurai or ronin than the enormous army of today.

This book is set four generations Oma and Shu's love story the earth kingdom is still in it's infantsy. The art of earthbending is still evolving while the kingdom of Omashu struggles to band together it's strength against the established forms of bending.

It also takes place fifteen generations after he evil Avatar Khan, born to the Kingdom of ice, spread his kingdom across the earth, almost conquering all that was.. now the ice kingdom is fighting to maintain it's hold on the world, searching for the Avatar of this generation to reincarnate their defeated leader.

Now, as the ice warriors scour the world for the Avatar we settle on the ancestors of the Air nomads, four tribes of shiftless raiders, living off of those that wander into their vast territories. It's to these rouges that this generation of avatar is born. Can an Avatar born to such a world pull it all together and turn away the lure off ultimate power, or will he fall to it's lure like his past life?


	2. Chapter 2

Avatar the tale of the past

Earth and wind- the dance

Rene le se heard it again. That soft rustle of fabric, the shifting of stones. Someone was watching her. She had thought so for hours, but now she was sure of it. It took all of her willpower not to glance over to the source of the almost inaudible sounds.

Giving away that she knew she was being watched would gain her nothing. Besides, she had been warned never to make eye contact. They hated that. It made them crazy, and the last thing she needed was a crazy predator coming after her.

She was in it's territory, she knew that too. She was in the wrong, practicing her earthbending, well ok she was mining on their land. It must have heard her. Earthbending wasn't quiet, but this was the thunder territory, a few booms were supposed to blend in with the deafening roar that always surrounded this place.

The question now was what to do. Running now would only attract it's attention, but continuing could make it mad. She could try to fight it, but that would attract others. How many were there? They were supposed to be as silent as devils. Oh spirits she was in deep!

No. she told herself. Just one sound. There had to be only one. She couldn't allow herself to panic. Slowly her eyes wandered to the three small bags filled with gold nuggets. Her gold nuggets, the result of weeks of work. If it got her someone else would get her gold, and she was not going to let that happen!

Again, slowly deliberately, she stood out of her stance and moved back to the stone table she had made to eat off of. One slow liquid movement brought her up to sit on it.

_That's it. No fast movements. I'm not a threat_. She directed the thoughts towards the sound, as if whatever stalked her could hear them. _My mid morning ritual_, that shouldn't present too much of a threat, nice and ordinary.

Rene reached over to the small basin she had brought, gathering the wet cloth she left in it. Light dabs on her forehead, so soothing in this dry heat. Next she squeezed the water over her arms. Nothing had happened yet. Had it left.

Rene lifted her long forest green skirt up to her knees, then paused. Another sound, this time from the north. This time much louder. Rene's heart stopped for a beat, then rocketed into her throat as the slight shifting became a blood-curdling screech.

She whipped her head around but a shot of skin stripping wind blasted down the valley, tearing the sand from the earth and ramming them into her flesh. She shadow that darted for her sliced the storm in half, revealing a tall warrior wielding a pair of red vicious looking fans.

Before she knew it, it was only inches away the wind from the razor sharp weapons drying the slight moisture on her brow and sending ice down her veins. _I'm going to die! Oh spirits, I'm going to die!_

Zephyr laid in the sand, watching his favorite new pastime as she moved her rocks around. Spirits he enjoyed watching her stomp. The way her skirts flared up when they came down hard on the ground to make the stupid stones float made the loss of the gold she was stealing seem worth it.

Then all of a sudden she stopped. Zephyr held his breath. Crap, he had only moved a little. She had heard him! Her movements didn't give anything away, but he was sure she had heard the pebbles that even now fell down the cliff. The sound had made her uneasy. While her face betrayed nothing he had watched her long enough to note the difference in her eyes.

Whether she had heard him or not soon became a mute point however, as she moved into Zephyr's favorite part of the afternoon, dabbing off the sun's heat with water from her tiny basin. Spirits this woman was beautiful. Silently he moved closer to get a better look as she started on her arms, just waiting for her to get to washing her soar feet, and giving him that splendid view of her legs. Then the howl, the screech he knew all too well. The anger boiled inside of him, and Zephyr of the thunder tribe leaped into action.

No sooner had she heard that terrifying yell that Rene's ears were engulfed in the loudest explosion noise she had ever experienced. So potent was the sound that it surged through her whole body, shaking her from the inside as well as the out.

Wave after wave of vibrations poured through her body, lifting her onto her toes. Only her earthbending kept her rooted to the earth, but how long she could keep from losing herself to the sheer force of the blast was a question she dared not pose.

The sound was actually tearing free the dust and stone from the earth. Not in small pieces. The rocks around her seemed to shatter under the strain. The attacker that had tried to surprise her was tossed aside like a rag doll.

All of this happened into the time it took to blink, the explosion of the thunderous blast, her would be attacker tossed to the floor, in less time than it would have taken her to bend a stone from the earth.

The next instant a second attacker had come between her and the first. In the third instant Rene fell, unable to keep her balance, no longer able to hear. She collapsed to her hands and knees, only to find her hands compensation for her loss.

…_doing here Wind- tribe?"_ her second attacker was screaming. He was tall, broad shoulders, with wild black hair that whipped around the upper half of his body. He straitened his yellow tunic with one swift jerk and stepped forward, deliberately threateningly. _You have no idea what you have taken from me by your actions! Leave my land and maybe I'll leave you in one piece!_

The way he moved was so new to the earthbender. Even with her world a spinning blurry mess she could see the quick movements, stiff, yet so fluid. His footsteps pounded into the earth like a war cry against the now smooth stone.

The first young man wore a similar yellow tunic, but the way his body seemed to soar with every movement made the two despicable thieves seem complete opposites. The first attacker didn't seem as effected by the blast of sound.

Rene noticed blood trickling from the hand covering his right ear, but he didn't look like he could vomit any second, or blink like his vision was beginning to whiten at it's edges. Spirits she hoped she could keep it together long enough to escape.

She tried to push off of the floor, but fell back down. Her balance had been obliterated._ "Your claim to this thief is not as strong as mine Thunder-whelp!_ Her first attacker pulled out what looked like two sticks from his bright orange belt. With a flick of his wrist the became deadly looking fans_ That gold belongs to my tribe! This Oma filth mined it out of our mountains, and the Wind-tribe wants it back._

The second man looked back to her. His silver eyes were dancing with something she couldn't place, some sort of mixing of excitement and mischievous glee. Those eyes seemed to have all the force of a storm behind them, wild and free eyes. He turned them back to the other boy. _My land Wind-brat, my gold. But more importantly MY BABE!_

No sooner had Rene's eyes widened in indignant shock that both of them sprang into action. The Wind tribe fighter flicked his fans into perfect disks and flung them at the cocky perverted fighter. Rene almost wished they would cleave him in too.

But the peeping tom swung his own weapon. To her blurred sight it looked like only a simple metal egg shaped sword. But as he struck it onto the earth a second burst of sound exploded from the weapon, deflecting the razor sharp projectiles.

The wind tribe boy simply bent the air to return his blades, and Rene saw what protected the boy from the debilitating effects of the thunderbending. At first glance it looked like a tornado swirling around the fighter, but the way the air collapsed back onto his body when her released his bending gave it all away. Somehow he was thinning the air around him. Thinner air meant not as much sound.

The pervert simply darted down and kicked, letting his foot only graze the earth. He bent a blade of some sorts. Like a ripple in the air, it flew towards the Wind tribe warrior, forcing him to dodge. The blade hit a pile of stone created by the first sound attack and split it open like rotted fruit.

No wonder these men were called devils. How did one defend from the very air you breathed? She should never have come here. Honestly, which was she rooting for, the perverted peeping tom, or the wind tribe thief that wanted her gold, and her head?

_My legs, _the shout from the pervert was reinforced by another blast of thunder that shook Rene's hands until they hurt as much as her ears. _My boobs, My babe! _Each declaration was followed by a devastating offensive.

The fifth blast of thunder was immediately followed by a ball of compressed air. It his as the Wind tribe fighter collapsed his vacuum shield, and thus fell welcomely into the suction of air returning to his body. The explosion that followed would have killed anyone else.

The young man had barely been able to bend a defense, and with that the one sided battle was at an end. And Rene Le Se was left at the mercy of one of the Stormbending Air Raiders of the Thunder clan.

Strong callused hands seized her head. Rough, bristly fingers pushed something wet and slimy into her ears, but she was in no condition to fight him off. Her mind swam with thoughts of what fates awaited her at the hands of this dumb brute.

It was not what she had expected. The hands were not forceful. They eased her down, gently pushing her legs together and standing her up on one elbow. Then they let her go.

When she opened her eyes the dizzy sickness was gone. The raider was simply sitting there staring at her, laying there, positioned into a seductive pose… Oh spirits! This guy WAS a pervert!

Rene wasted no time in moving to stand up. All the response she received from the Stormbender was a resolved sigh. Her balance was still off, but she found she could stand without difficulty her vision was clear. Had he given her medicine?

"Give me back my gold!"

"My gold." The raider smiled. That smile worried her. It was the type of smile you would think a storm would have as it devastates your life and destroys your crops. "My land, my mountain, my gold."

"My efforts," she retorted. "My work, My gold!"

his smile only widened. She couldn't help but notice those eyes again. They were still dancing in glee as he taunted her. If he had been watching her for as long as she thought he had, he would know her bending was no match for his. She had no way to defend against his thunder attacks.

But he had been watching hadn't he? And that gave her an idea. Rene slowly let her arms creep behind her back, pushing out her chest. Her bottom lip stuck out and quivered, her eyes became pleading. "Please?" she asked quietly.

His smile wilted in a flash, actually becoming a mask of concern, that is until Rene stomped her foot and sent a pillar of stone crashing between the raider's legs. His eyes bulged and watered. His lips, devoid of any type of smile worked to suck in air, and he doubled over.

One chance, she told herself as she darted forward, grasping her ill gotten nuggets from the raider's limp hands. She had to put some major distance between herself and the valley, before her new 'friend' could right himself.

It was simple to bend the earth beneath her into waves to increase her speed, but before she had gotten ten meters a gust of wind knocked her off of her twin moving mounds and only her bottom.

The long skirts of her dress flared up in the wind, covering her vision and tangling her in a mess of cotton. When she had righted herself the raider was once again staring, and once again holding her gold.

Rene blushed furiously. That had not been an attack. That gust of air had been intended to do one thing. Righteous anger welled up from her stomach as she crouched down into a fighting stance. He didn't want the gold. He didn't want a fight, he just wanted to humiliate her, and get his jollies of while he did it!

She stomped ripping free a massive boulder. The way those glee-filed eyes widened in worry was gratifying. A simple punch tossed the boulder towards the pervert, and Rene watched with a glee of her own as he was forced to flee.

Rock after rock she made him dance, leap and dodge, delighting in her power. He fought back of course. Blowing gusts of wind her way. Those were easy to block, but she refused to give him the time to bend his thunderous attack.

"ZEPHYR!" a voice tore through the valley, crushing her floating bolder which had been poised to give the final blow. The raider looked both shocked and scared. Glancing reluctantly to the south, the source of the racket. Rene saw with a plunge of her heart, that the fool had had his oval weapon poised for a counter attack all along.

"Uncle" the fool righted himself quickly. His eyes finding a trim elder with a ridiculously long beard. Despite his age the old fart seemed as muscular as the either young man she had seen today. "I… uh…"

"You were just making as much of a racket as you could to disturb my morning tea? You're supposed to be in the northern cliffs looking out for trespassers, not flirting with Oma peasant!"

"She… she was attacked by our cousins uncle. Arris of the wind tribe ambushed her here. It's my land uncle. I had to defend it!"

"Had to defend her you mean. I did not know you were letting people from the Oma clan-"

"Earth kingdom! We call ourselves the earth kingdom you backwards old fart! We have a kingdom now, with a king and everything! And the grand city of Omashu as our capital. We-"

"I did not know you were letting people from the Oma clan mine your mountains nephew. It's just inviting trouble from the other tribes. Our neighbors the wind tribe are skittish enough, but if word gets out of alliances with earthbenders we will lose face with the Cloud tribe and rain tribe as well."

"Yes uncle." The raider looked away. It was obvious he didn't care about the politics of his people.

'Believe me, I understand the attraction though." The old man's voice drew lower. "earthbender omen are such a delight. Did I ever tell you the tale of Zephyrial, our spirit of thunder, and Gia."

The pervert actually blushed. "Yes uncle." His voice was hesitant, embarrassed "Gia fell in love with the thunder and danced for him. When she danced the air was pulled along with her by her movements, giving birth to Supernial, the spirit of the wind."

The old man elbowed the youth. "And she continued to dance even after she had one him. She continues to dance still today. Dancing gleefully with their child. So you see. We are as rooted in the earth as we are in the air… where was I going with this?

"You were saying that since the thunder spirit loves the earth so much, that we should welcome her people into our camp." Rene had to admit. The pervert was pretty slick when he wanted to. Or maybe, she thought, catching the gleam in the old man's eye, not as slick as he thought.

"Ah yes!" the pervert's uncle found th bags of gold in his nephew's hands and took the smallest. "For a price of course." He lamented, nodding.

"Of course." And the young raider's eyes began to dance once more.

"I'm sure." The old man continued absently. "That the three of us can come to a mutual agreement that will please our respective spirits. Cooperation, in spirit of the dance as it were."

"Elder Honner looked over his shoulder to his nephew, now helping the stumbling, baffled girl to walk with them back to the camp. He had always known his sister's son to chase after anything with a nice set of legs. But to attack so fiercely to protect an outsider, risking war with the wind tribe no less… he was smitten.

The issue with their cousins would have to be delt with quickly. A single blast from the horn on his hip summoned the healers of the thunder tribe to the wind tribe boy's side. Compensation would be sent with the healing child, to make up for the loss the earthbender had caused them.

One more look to his nephew and Honner shook his head. How could this lazy womanizing fool have been born the Avatar?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Children of thunder

Rene wasn't sure what she expected when they came to the edge of the valley, the home of the most feared benders in the land, the benders that struck fear in the hearts of the strongest men she had seen. She had spent the better part of an hour studying the two stormbenders trying to guess.

Both were strong looking men, lean muscle veiled in soft yellow tunics. They both moved with the same fierce fluidity. Both wore the same blue tattoos on their brow, twin lightning bolts striking together between their eyes.

The pervert's weapon was different that she had thought. The egg shape she had seen when her vision had blurred was actually an oval ring, razor sharp, surrounding a big… well it looked like a big fork.

He wore a shield too, a weapon he had left up on the hill in his eagerness to 'save' her. It was thin, only about a hand's width, but it was as long as the young man was tall. She knew enough to think that both weapons were designed to work with his strange sound bending.

But what to make of his people. Rene was determined not to judge them by this fool's shining example. His uncle seemed both wise as he was mischievous, and cunning. He walked silently, reproaching his nephew any time he opened his mouth to speak.

And then they came into sight of the thunder tribe camp, and all of her calculations went out the window. They, well they were loud, she had expected that. What she hadn't expected was… well…

There were children, laughing. There were families, and there was joy, unrestrained joy. The people of thunder ran and danced in complete content. Mothers cradled their children, children played with their toys, and they flew. They actually flew!

She had never seen such great smiles on peoples faces as those on the people that rode the winds like birds. Some floated, some soared, but all of them called out their joy into the open and waiting world.

"You seemed surprised." Uncle Honner quizzed.

"You fly?" even seeing it she couldn't believe it.

"we are the children of Thunder, kin to the wind." The old man spoke softly. "the wind is the source of all life. It feeds us all, filling us with life every breath we take. When we die, the wind takes us again. It is as our prayers say, 'we cannot die, for we are the wind. With every breath our ancestors empower us. We breath deeply and gladly, for we are the wind'"

he spoke like a sage. Rene had to wonder what it was like to have such deep roots. Earthbending had only existed for a fraction of the time that these people had. She looked again to the delight on their faces, to ride the wind, to soar up to the stars… what must that feel like?

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a swift blur of movement, and then the earth was stolen from her. A firm arm wrapped around her middle and whisked her up in it's strength.

The raider drew his blade and she inhaled sharply, fearing the worst but he ran towards the village with all his might. The fool leaped, exhaling a hurricane to propel them both into the air.

He wedged his feet into the oval weapon and drew his shield. A simple flick of his wrist and it exploded. Widening into a sail twice as wide as she was. The wind caught it and the two of them soared into the crowd of stormbenders.

At first the raider skimmed the walls of the valley, riding the stone walls with the blade of the weapon. Once they were clear they broke into open air, and flew up, up higher and higher.

Younger stormbenders followed in a game of follow the leader. Rene clutched to her captor with all she had as they climbed past the thin cold clouds, then turned to skim along their billowy whiteness.

The young stormbender looked back to her, then to their tag along friends and turned his shield-sail again to climb higher away from the safety of the ground. Soon she couldn't even see the earth anymore. Most of the children couldn't follow, those that could flew by in happy greeting and dove back beneath the clouds. Her raider went higher. Only when the valley could not be seen did he stop, floating in a darkening sky.

Rene snapped her eyes shut. The cold air stung. Her raider squeezed her once, then again. Finally on the third squeeze she forced her eyes open… and saw heaven. The son was setting below painting the world he had taken her to hundreds of shades of red, purple, and blue.

Only then did she feel it, the freedom, the hold of the earth, left far beneath her. The wind held them, embraced them. It cradled them in it's embrace and the story the old man had told her came back to her. The wind, the child of thunder and the earth. It guided them through the world above, the world only the Storm raiders had ever seen up until now.

They dove into that magenta realm and Rene's soul screamed in delight. It was hours before they returned, greeted by cheers and welcomes. By then all the fear in her was gone, washed away by the vision of the star scattered skies.

The pervert left her in the crowd of eager smiles, folding his sail back into a shield and replacing the oval sword back on the small of his back. Uncle Honner watched him walk away from them both, the slightest smile on his face.

Zephyr couldn't remember when he had been happier. He had never seen such beauty. Her face, filled to the brim with wonder, lit by the dying sun, and eyes lit by the silver of the moon.

He'd never taken women up to the stars before, but watching her stare at his brethren, jealousy had blazed to life in him. He had wanted to be the one to show her the wonder of playing tag with the stars, of surfing the clouds.

"well," a sweet alto voice sounded behind him. "I've never even dreamed of … that." She was trying to return her hair to the state it had been before his joy ride. Spirits her face was still so beautiful, her eyes the color of sand, her lips as red as blood. "Now will you tell me who I have to thank for it all."

"No."

"What do you mean 'NO'?" heat surged back into those sandy globes. Those ruby lips curled into a snarl. Before he could stop it the rouge in him rose again.

"I saved your life. You should tell me **your** name."

"Of all the stubborn, pig headed, vapor brained lunatics! I should have gone with the Wind tribe! If you think I'm going to give you my name you perverted peep artist-" before she could finish his lips slammed into hers. His arms snaked around her, lifting her up again free of the earth.

"Zephyr, son of thunder, mightiest of the Stormbenders. Men quake at my feet, women bow before me. Children look to me as one of the spirits themselves. I am- quit laughing!"

"I can't help it. You sound like a peacock-cat."

He tried to look offended but dissolved into a stifled chuckle himself. "Fine. I'm Zephyr, the mightiest Stormbender, but also the laziest. I love to do nothing unless I'm forced to. I love to watch clouds, the birth and twilight of each day, and beauty in any form." He kissed her again. This time she didn't fight it. "And who are you?"

The girl smiled and his heart leaped, "No." and then plummeted.

"What do you mean 'NO'?"

"I'm the beauty." Her smile widened. "I don't have to tell you my name." He actually roared at that, sounding a clap of thunder with nothing but his voice. His eyes burned into her for the briefest glance, the her raider swept around and departed like an angry storm.

Uncle Honner laughed behind her. No one had ever handled his nephew like that. His skill and power made him a force to be feared in the tribe, even as it made him a hero among their people. "shall we call you beauty then?" he asked the young woman.

Her confidence seemed to have wilted for a second as Zephyr had stomped off. Now it returned in force. "That depends on our 'Deal' how much of my gold are you going to claim you need."

Honner had to laugh. He had almost forgotten about the gold issue. Hmm, he couldn't demand too much of the child or she might leave. Who knows what Zephyr would do then. But he couldn't ask too little either. Their reputation as devils and monsters kept most people from their lands.

"Half."

"No way. twenty percent, and not a speck of dust more!"

Honner pretended to think it over. "Let's see, we're on our Thirty fifth Avatar, so I'll take thirty five percent. Or would you like to forget it all and leave with nothing save your skin?"

Yes, devils and monsters. Honner scowled at her, then frowned when she burst into giggles again. Spirits, this is why they never let outsiders venture close to the village. Their reputation was shot.

"thirty. No more."

"Done." He waved over his son, Clang. "Find the Oma girl a spare tent and mat. She will be digging up some gold for us." The boy smiled, knowing exactly why they were keeping the girl here.

"It's Rene." The woman told him. "Rene Le Se of the Clan Oma, head of the bear-eagle merchant society."

"a very rich society." Honner welled his chest proudly. "I'm not ashamed to say I've personally stolen much from you Rene Le Se. your wealth has supported us through many winters.

The girl's face turned bitter. "we were rich once." She almost spat. Honner's chest deflated. "My father spent almost every cent we had trying to find the Avatar." Now Honner's breath stuck in his throat.

"Avatar Reiko? The Blade of fire? Yes, one of the first to rise before the ignorant hunted her down, fearing she would become another Avatar Khan. My heart sinks thinking of those children, hated for his sins, hunted like animals."

"Avatar Khan." Her eyes lit with anger again. "the king of Ice. Half the world is still covered with his cursed glacier kingdom. His Ice Lords are still looking for this generation's Avatar to corrupt, trying to rekindle their war."

"Fifteen lifetimes, fifteen sets of families, fifteen choices, it amazes me to think that anyone would think not one of them would fall to the temptation of power. Kahn was born a Prince, raised by an ambitious king. To think that all others woud be evil after him though…"

"I don't care!" the child snapped. "I'm rebuilding an empire myself. I need this gold. If I have to give you thirty five pieces for every hundred I'll do it!" she looked away, ashamed by her outburst. "I'm going to sleep now."

When she was gone Honner's sister smacked him. "A Oma girl?" she questioned. "you were supposed to find an ice bender to teach him! Not some dirtbender to moon over!" Honner could only shrug. "well you'll have to get rid of her until he learns to icebend."

"Yes dear sister." Honner muttered.

"this could be a good thing. Send her home with her gold, then get the fool a teacher! Tell her his little Oma girl will come back when he had learned what he is supposed to!"

"yes dear sister." Her ferver was understanding, but blackmailing his nephew with the woman he loved did not taste right. "Are you sure that there is an Icebender out there that can be trusted?"

Zephyr's mother sighed. "No, but he must learn. We can't take no for an answer anymore. This Oma child is the only thing he has ever shone any desire for. If we have to play with his heart to make him into what the spirits meant him to be it seems a small price."

"Do not take playing with destiny lightly sister. Forcing an Avatar is dangerous territory."

"My son will not be another Kahn! He was loved! I gave him everything any child could-"

"Yes, but don't toy with his heart. Hearts do not heal quickly, and the scars left by such wounds can darken the lightest hearts." That sounded wise right? Honner hoped so. His sister mulled over it for a few moments, then nodded.

"We'll work subtly for now. Let the Oma girl stay and do her digging. Zephyr will only grow more fond of her. Sooner or later she'll leave to reenforce her empire. We'll play on Zephyr's pride first. Maybe he will learn to impress her. If not… The world must have an Avatar!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Icebenders earthbenders and stormbenders

Three months, three months inside the territory of the legendary bandits. Three months of mining while Zephyr, the son of thunder watched. Three months of laying with him on grassy hilltops watching the thin wispy clouds pass above them., and three months of soaring faster and higher than any bird in the sky.

Rene fiddled with the parting gift Uncle Honner had given her, three months of living like family along side them and all she had to show for it was a thunder-crest medallion. A simple circle of gold with the thunder tribe's twin lightning bolt, and ripple sign on one side, and Zephyr's winged white tiger on the other.

Well, that, and three wagons filled with more gold than she could ever spend, two bear-rhinos to pull two of them, and Zephyr's pet Razu to pull the third. Still, she had hated to leave.

To take her mind off of it Rene unrolled the map Zephyr's mother had given her. Her raider had told her to skirt the boarders of the Wind and Cloud tribes for safety. She assumed the thunder tribe had some arrangement that made this safer than traveling in open earth country.

"_If ever you feel eyes on you from above hold the medallion to the light"_ Honner's gentle grainy voice still sounded in her ear. Once again she found herself scratching her raider's pet thunder tiger as she thought. She wished she had been given a better escort, but Razu's company made her feel a little bit better.

The winged tiger reminded her of him, lazy, pompous, and self important, but like his master willing to do anything for her. She still couldn't believe he had turned down the offer to go with her. For a while it had made her wonder what these three months had been to him.

He had told her he loved her, but he'd done that many times before. She supposed him giving her Razu for protection was a sign of his love, personally she preferred it when she counted her gold, only to find Zephyr's thirty five percent returned to all their friends and relatives.

With a heavy sigh she rolled her map back up without looking at it. She'd never know if she had just been a summer fling. Chances were strong she would return only to find him married to some rain tribe girl. Clang had told her they had legs almost as sexy as hers.

A noise startled her out of her self pitting trance. The river, the river that marked the edge of the stormbender's lands. She was almost home. She kissed Razu out of sheer happiness. She was almost home!

"Well, that's a lot of gold."

Rene spun around. The voice was deep, cold, when she found the source her blood froze, her body crouched automatically into an eathbending stance. Three men clad in blue and gray armor, and a feeling of terror deeper than that she had experienced three months ago shot through her.

Icebenders! The blue armor of shield-fish bones made that abundantly clear. Her next thought forced her vision away from the monsters in front of her. She looked around for any glimmer of hope, any sign that one of the Stormbenders tribes were near. Nothing on the horizon, nor in the sky. Her soul sunk as the three monsters laughed.

Why wouldn't they laugh? She was alone… save for the giant tiger, and the stones beneath her! Why was she whimpering like a child? With a silent prayer to the earth spirit, she thrust her foot into the ground, then twisted her body, thrusting out her hip as she threw up her arms. It was a move that she had seen the stormbenders use to toss their children into the air, summoning a whirlwind to keep them up in the air.

For her it became a storm of stone and rocks, a whirlwind of sharp shards that threw the icebenders on their butts. She stomped, again, then for a third time, pulling three spikes from the earth to pin the largest of the Ice lords down.

The sudden drop in temperature was all the warning she received before a spear of ice narrowly missed her right ear. If not for the naturally windy terrain the weapon would have killed her. For the effort the icebender that had sent the gleaming instrument of death was buried in a wave of rubble.

The third bender came at her with glassy daggers that sliced through her stone wall as if they had been folded steel. Three months ago she wouldn't have lasted this long against one ice lord, but now she knew the earth, she knew what it was to be away from her element, soaring through the sky had heightened her awareness of the surface on which she stood.

She could almost hear the earth, the way it pulled her down eager to have her back. Gia loved her, but she knew the sky as well, and this next attack she blamed her raider for. Rene clapped her hands together and drove them into the earth breaking apart a stone that reached from her to her clueless attacker, with all she had she struck again and twirled her body on her end, sending the other end spinning. The traction was excellent, and for the first time Rene built up the speed she hoped for. The pull of stone anchored the man to the spinning rock. Rene spun faster, crushing the murderous icebender to her element.

She speed robbed the breath from his lungs, like shooting too fast into the starry night. Rene spun until her legs ached, then slowed. When she stopped the icebender fell limp onto the loose dirt of the battle field.

"Some men just can't handle the dance." She smiled.

"Stupid dirtbender!" and armored hand found her throat from behind. Bone dug into her skin as it squeezed the air from her lungs screams became choked whispers. Spirits, he hadn't seen the new group come up while she was finishing off the last of the first.

Her eyes blurred with tears. She didn't want to d- "RAAAAH" the sound tore through the group of armored warmongers, followed by a shrill war cry, and another blast of thunder.

This one ripped the small army from the earth and tossed them to a waiting beast. Razu roared again, the air rippling around his fangs and exploding into a clap of sound so powerful it all but crushed the jerks. Those that survived were tossed back to their backs by a gust of wind so strong it threw Rene's carousel into the sky.

More were coming from the north, attracted by the sounds of the ambush. They were met with an eruption of dark mist that ate through their armors faster than they could take it off. Then by an explosion of purple gas that toppled them in seconds as they gasped and choked

Rene spun around again, her hand moving swiftly for the medallion. It slipped out of her sweaty hands and fell to the grass. Beside her Razu roared, the animal's thunder bending reverberating through her. She thanked the spirits she had forgotten to take the wax jelly out of her ears.

'hey now! No need to get so jumpy." It was a tall man, in stormbender yellow and orange. He stepped on an icebender's head and flashed her a winning smile.

"_Beware the Cloud benders." _Honner's voice warned inside her head. "_of all of the stormbenders, only they stand immobile when they attack. They use powdered weapons, poisons, drugs, and corrosives. They bend the air to manipulate clouds of such substances. Never let a cloud tribe bender reach for his belt._ Uncle Honner had been right on there

"keep your hands where I can see them!" Reneordered, falling into her earthbending stance. One stomp brought a spike of stone to cut the benders belt from his waist. The Cloud tribe bender stuck both arms in the air like his life depended on it, the rougeish smile hat seemed the birthright of all Stormbenders lighting his face.

"Forewarned huh?" he laughed. Slowly he approached, picked up the amulet, and his smile only grew. "Protection by the thunder tribe. Nice to have strong business partners. That much gold had to have come from Zephyr's land."

"You know my raider?" her eyes narrowed. The cloud tribe wasn't suppose to get along with the thunder tribe. If he knew Zephyr, it was likely they were enemies.

"YOUR Raider? Oooh I see." Rene blushed furiously. Did she say that out loud? "our Zephyr in love with a Oma girl, wait till I tell my sister. She's had a thing for him for years."

"Did not!" a cute little tyke called out from another pile of unconscious warriors. She couldn't have been more than eleven.

The cloud bender leaned up against Rene's stone spike. He was mocking her. The dark blue circle above his brow smoothed as his eyebrows went up. Razu growled beside her., suddenly the young man yelped and stood, the same instant a burst of sand shot up from the earth.

"Yeah, Her Raider, got a problem with that?" the voice was right behind him. The cloud bender held his breath. His back arched like something sharp was sticking into the tender skin. Sure enough her Raider was standing there when the sand fell back to the ground.

"Zephyr!"

her raider shot her a happy smile "And now for you…Clang! Tanda! Come down here this instant!" another pair of sulking cries and Clang fell from the heavens with another child. The wavy lines on her forehead told of Wind Tribe heritage.

"we were bodyguarding." The young Thunder tribe boy attested before any questions could be raised. "she has more than enough gold to pay for bodyguards." The boy smiled superiorly.

"You're supposed to ask for the gold first you dolt!"

"Yeah? Well what were you doing trailing her?"

yes, Rene thought, why was her beloved fool following her? "never mind that stupid! Uncle Honner is going to kill you when he learns you flew off to earn you and your girlfriend a few nuggets of gold!"

"Can I be a bodyguard?" the cloud bender girl jumped up, propelled by a sudden gust of wind. " I like to sparkle when I fly!"

"Hold ON!" Rene shouted. In less than three minutes she had gone from lonely and abandoned to horribly crowded. _Ok_ she thought _let me sift through it all. My raider came back to me. _Her cheeks reddened at that thought. _The problem is the others. Clang I trust, but the two cloud tribe siblings and the wind tribe girl…_

the slight rumble underneath her send a cold shiver down her spine. Past the horizon the Ice kingdom's glacier was on the move, no doubt to search for their reincarnated king. Three carts of gold would fuel their searches for years.

She needed the protection, at least until she got to her father's city "Fine, you're all my bodyguards. I'll pay each of you five nuggets, after we get to my city, Ba Sing Se." she wasn't sure how that went over, but no one complained. She was the one with the gold, so she was the leader.

Spirits how she wanted to fly there, but the cloud child had been right, they would never get the carts off of the ground. " you heard her. Clang, Hara, you take the skies. Stay high and out of sight." Zepher's cousin and the little cloud girl bowed and took off like fireworks.

"Zarn, you and Tanda stay close to the ground bee-vulture maneuvers. Keep our backs clear, I'll stay here on the ground with Razu." A three layer protection, each layer seeing farther than the last cloud and thunder up top, perfect for signaling if danger was spotted. Cloud and wind on the second layer to back up Zephyr if needed.

"I'll get my Basilisks to take Razu's spot on the wagon." Zarn, the cloud warrior bowed before he took off with Clang's little girlfriend in tow, leaving Rene and Zephyr alone… amongst the crumbled bodies of their enemies.

"Romantic." The Raider muttered, reading her mind. "You ok? You took several thunder blasts, along with these losers." He kicked one icebenders to prove exactly how tough he was. Rene only giggled.

"Someone was worried about me."

"I forgot to get uncle's percentage." Zephyr folded his arms over his chest. Spirits he was just like a child.

"Too late now. It's my gold." She started walking back, taking no heed of the crumbled ice kingdom warriors. If the Princess of the ice nation had expended so much of the Ice kingdom's power towards the air tribes she must think that the avatar had been born to the raiders, but when, and who?

No, that was her father's obsession. She was rebuilding her family's fortune. The matters of the Avatar didn't concern her. She was more worried about how she was going to explain to her mother that she was in love with a Stormbender.


End file.
